Swarming vs Orientation flights: As a new-bee you can learn a lot by looking and observing your hive. Here are two behaviours that can sometimes be confused. Swarming and orientation flights. Swarming: Swarming is a honey bee colony's natural means of reproduction. In the process of swarming, a single colony splits into two or more distinct colonies. The queen leaves and about half the hive follows, workers filled with honey stores, to find and make a new home. Orientation flights: Bees take ori